


A Hotel in Toronto

by lovepollution



Category: Cardinal (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canon Het Relationship, Canon Relationships, Canon Universe, During Canon, F/M, Fluff and Smut, In Character, Introspection, Missing Scene, Nervousness, Older Man/Younger Woman, Resolved Sexual Tension, Sex, Smoking, Smut, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:33:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26502952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovepollution/pseuds/lovepollution
Summary: “I, uh...” John mumbled as he stood in the hallway and turned towards Lise. He gave himself a few extra seconds to work up the courage to say what he needed to, shaking his head before he spoke. “I don’t want you to leave.”Lise considered his words for a second. “I know,” she told him with confidence, pushing open her hotel room door and heading inside. She left it conspicuously open as a silent invitation to her partner, who hesitated with doubt and uncertainty before finally taking a step into the unknown.
Relationships: John Cardinal/Lise Delorme
Comments: 6
Kudos: 10





	A Hotel in Toronto

**Author's Note:**

> Dipping my toe into the Cardinal fandom with this short one: my take on what happened behind that hotel room door, and the morning after. There is a bit of smut here, but it's really more of me trying to get inside their heads about what they might've been thinking.

“I, uh...” John mumbled as he stood in the hallway and turned towards Lise. He gave himself a few extra seconds to work up the courage to say what he needed to, shaking his head before he spoke. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Lise considered his words for a second. “I know,” she told him with confidence, pushing open her hotel room door and heading inside. She left it conspicuously open as a silent invitation to her partner, who hesitated with doubt and uncertainty before finally taking a step into the unknown.

John stood inside the doorway, shifting slightly with uncertainty, uncertain of what he should do next.

“It’s OK,” Lise told him, walking to meet him, noting the look of mild abject terror on his face. “There’s no pressure,” she continued, reaching her hand up to let her fingers brush along his jawline, “we don’t have to...do anything.”

John swallowed, smiling ruefully. “I want to, it’s just…” he sighed. “It’s been...a while.” He elected not to mention that he was also petrified because he hadn’t slept with anyone but Catherine for the past 20 plus years, but he had an inclining Lise guessed as much and was contemplating it anyway, nodding with warm understanding in her eyes.

Lise gently guided his head downwards with her hand, the fingers of which had threaded into the hair at the nape of his neck. John picked up on her intentions instinctively and held his lips a whisper away from touching hers, letting her take the lead and press her mouth to his with tender conviction.

Clothes were shed as they continued kissing, leaving each of them standing in nothing but their underwear by the time they stood next to the bed. Separated, they stood apart and looked at each other with hesitation, both a little unsure of what their next move should be. Lise decided to take the lead and slipped beneath the sheets, and pushing back the covers, she gestured for John to join her.

They lay, side-by-side, looking at the ceiling.

“I…” John started. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked Lise, still in disbelief that they were laying in bed together, nothing but thin scraps of material between them.

Lise turned to him, smiling. “I’m sure,” she assured him, and sensing his hesitance, she decided to seal her words with a solid and certain kiss.

John’s arms wrapped around her back and pulled her close as their tongues explored each other's mouths. Surprising himself with his bravery, he unhooked Lise’s bra and she slipped it off, quickly throwing it over to the other side of the room. Breaking the kiss, her hands roamed as she shimmied down his body.

His breathing hitched as she traced the scars that littered his torso. They were memories of so many cases, some victories and some defeats, that had - both figuratively and literally - shaped him into the man he’d become; the compassionate man who sometimes cared too much, the man that wouldn’t give up until the truth was found and laid bare for all to see, and the man who demanded justice for his wife’s death.

When her hands reached his underwear, John’s breath hitched again and he drew an even sharper breath than before. He lifted his hips in invitation for her to remove his boxers and she gladly obliged. She swiftly removed her underwear next, but it was something John would have no recollection of when he replayed their first night together back in his mind later. All he would remember next was a tremendous warmth engulfing his senses as their bodies finally connected.

Their mouths and hands were hot and insistent as they moved together, in an easy rhythm. He tried to hold on for as long as he could, but when Lise grazed his earlobe with her teeth, there was nothing he could do but give in.

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he apologised, flushed with equal parts exertion and embarrassment. “I told you it had been a while,” he continued with the breath of a self conscious laugh, staring straight up at the ceiling.

“It’s fine,” Lise told him sincerely, turning on her side to face him.

“It’s not,” he shook his head and turned to look her in the eye on the pillow next to him. “You didn't even...”

“It’s fine,” she reassured, touching his face. “Really.”

“Just let me...” He moved her hand away from his face and brushed his thumb over her cheek, before kissing her tenderly. “Please?” he asked in little more than a whisper when he pulled back, now brushing his thumb over her bottom lip. Keeping her gaze steady on him, she swallowed and nodded.

John’s hand slipped under the covers as his lips moved from hers and along her jaw. He paid extra attention to a spot close to her earlobe he was beginning to realise she liked, and when it was coupled with the roughness of his thumb against the place he’d neglected to provide attention to earlier, the results were explosive.

“Oh,” Lise gasped, “that’s...mmmhmm, right there.” John’s fingers delved further, electing a sharper gasp in response.

“It’s OK, you can let go,” he murmured, his lips close to her ear as he continued to slowly kiss her neck. Lise was more than happy to comply with his wishes.

“I’m glad I let you talk me into that,” Lise said almost giddily, face flushed as she turned again to face John.

“Yeah?” he asked, still genuinely doubting himself.

“Oh yeah,” she beamed, leaning over to kiss him fiercely. “Very glad.”

He pulled her close, her head resting on his chest, as they lay there with only the sound of their breathing echoing in the room, happily at peace with each other. Within minutes, John drifted off, but sleep didn’t come so easily to Lise; she needed to pee and was craving a cigarette, and hoped it would help to calm her currently racing thoughts. She carefully lifted the arm that lay posessively over her stomach, and slipping out of the bed, she first went to use the bathroom. After splashing some water on her face, she gathered her clothes from the bedroom floor and quickly pulled them on. Her coat and boots followed before she opened the hotel room door carefully, clicking it closed behind her as discreetly as she could manage.

The first drag of a cigarette had never felt so good, and when she exhaled she released her tension and worry along with the smoke. She knew she liked John, and she knew he liked her, but the idea that anything might actually happen between them felt less and less likely as her time working besides him was drawing to a close. She certainly never thought they’d sleep together that evening.

Walking into her hotel and leaving John with an open invitation to follow her had been a gamble, and while she may have looked calm and collected, her heart was in her mouth in those seconds waiting to see if he followed her. In fact, she still couldn’t quite believe he had.

He didn’t say it, but she knew she was the first woman he’d been with since Catherine died. Hell, she suspected she was the first woman he’d been with who wasn’t Catherine in 20 plus years; John was not, she knew, the kind of man to betray something as serious as marriage vows, no matter how many women had likely thrown themselves at him over the years. He was older now, although still ruggedly handsome, but having seen photos of him in his younger years, she knew he could have given any Hollywood heartthrob a run for their money.

The sex had been good, Lise reflected. Although by John’s own admission, he hadn’t been technically perfect - that, she hoped, could come in time between them if they could work out a way to be together - John was attentive and caring and made sure she was left more than satisfied. The connection they had shared had been wonderful too; maybe it was as a result of being around each other for so long and not giving in, but Lise had never felt so close with someone before, not even Josh.

Having woken up to an empty hotel room, John had first panicked before noticing that while the clothes Lise had been wearing were gone, the rest of her belongings were not, so chances were that she had simply gone for a smoke. After bundling himself up, he decided to go and find her.

Lise saw him coming, and smiled slightly as they locked eyes across the carpark. Self conscious, he took the cigarette from her hand and attempted to take a drag, but didn’t even inhale and laughed, shaking his head, as the cigarette butt hit the ground. Lise laughed too as John playfully bumped her shoulder, but the moment quickly grew heavier when he wrapped an arm around her and she followed suit with him. When John pulled her close and placed a kiss to her forehead, her eyes closed in relief at feeling so secure in the intimacy he provided. They sat, silently, for an indistinguishable amount of minutes as he rubbed his thumb in a soothing rhythm against her arm.

“Coming back to bed?” he eventually murmured into her hair. “We can still get a few hours of sleep before we need to check out.”

“Yeah,” she whispered, eyes still closed in contentment. “That’d be nice.”

After they returned to the room, they both stripped down to their underwear and climbed under the covers. John held an arm out inviting Lise to curl up against him, and she gladly accepted, nestling her head into the crook of his shoulder and sighing in contentment as she closed her eyes. John dipped his head to place a kiss to her hair, inhaling her scent and somehow finding the smell of cigarette smoke intoxicating for the first time in his life.

“I’ve missed this,” he whispered, “sleeping with…” he stopped to correct himself, realising how his words could be taken. “Sleeping next to someone.”

“Me too,” Lise agreed softly. Turning, she pressed her lips against John’s in a kiss, before returning to her previous position and once again closing her eyes.

John had always been an early riser, but he was grateful that Lise was still sleeping soundly when he awoke at 6am. Fearing morning after awkwardness, he decided to gather his things and head back to his own room for a shower.

While showering, he tried to process the night they’d spent together. He was happy, he realised; for the first time in a long time, really happy. He tried not to think of Lise moving and if there would be any way their relationship could continue, and instead tried to focus on the wonderful night they’d had, knowing no matter the future, that memory would remain.

Showered and in fresh clothes, he knocked awkwardly on Lise’s door, completely unsure of the etiquette for the morning after you’d had sex with your work partner.

“Hey,” she greeted him with a broad grin, her hair still wet from the shower.

“Hey,” he smiled broadly back, relieved she didn’t seem to be harbouring regrets. “You ready to go?” he asked, ducking his head as he took a step into her hotel room.

“Yeah,” Lise replied as she tied her damp hair back into a bun, smiling tightly as she went to get her case. “Actually,” she said, stopping in her tracks and turning.

John looked at her, confused as she walked towards him, only understanding her intention when she was less than a meter from him and reaching up to guide his head down (as best she could with the height difference). She locked him into a solid unwavering kiss, although she pulled back a bit sooner than he would’ve liked.

“Now I’m ready,” she smiled again, satisfied that the kiss had let John know she wasn’t only absent of regrets, but also hoped for more than just one night between them. The smile he gave her in return, reaching right to his eyes, told her he hoped for it too.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to keep them as in character as I could, so hopefully I achieved that. I'm also currently working on a post-s4 fic and another one centring around the topic of John's wedding ring, so expect them at...some point.
> 
> If you'd like more Cardinal related content, [check out the tag on my Tumblr](https://lovepollution.tumblr.com/tagged/cardinal).


End file.
